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My First Roux (and a Cream of Potato Soup Recipe)

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I can still picture standing in the kitchen my first summer in an apartment, talking on the phone with my mother. I called her a lot to ask how to do things! I just wanted the recipe for cream of potato soup, one of my favorites, and there she was explaining how to make a “roux” that can be used in other recipes… I rolled my eyes.

“Mo-om!” (You know, the two-syllable “Mom” that teenagers use in exasperation. I was still young enough to use that tone of voice.) “I only want the recipe, plain and simple. You don’t need to give me a whole cooking lesson.“

Well! Now that I will tell anyone I know that learning to make a roux (pronounced “roo” like Kanga) is a really easy, important step in cooking things from scratch. It’s the basis for not only my favorite childhood soup, but also wanna-be Pasta-Roni side dishes, “cream of _____” soups for casseroles, and homemade gravy. You use a roux to make an even fancier sounding word, a bechamel, which basically means a cream sauce. I’ve used that knowledge to fiddle with pasta and vegetables and more and create really great, simple dishes. Now it’s your turn!

UPDATE: I updated the recipe with new ideas to make it more flexible with any veggies you have on hand plus a video of the gluten-free version. Check it out HERE.

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How to Make a Roux

Use equal parts fat and flour. Melt the fat and whisk in the flour. It’s as simple as that! To make the bechamel (cream sauce), you just whisk in milk or cream and bring to a boil, stirring fairly constantly.

1 Tbs. butter or olive oil (pan drippings if you’re going for gravy)

1 Tbs. flour (white or whole wheat both work great)

1 c. whole milk (or part cream)

Increase the amounts depending on how much of the final product you need. If you want it thicker, use more flour.

1. Gently melt the butter so it doesn’t burn:

2. Whisk in flour:

3. Until it looks like pasty gunk:

4. UPDATE: (Thanks, Mom!) Cook for a minute to get rid of the “flour” taste, then slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to mix up the roux. (This is where you’d add broth or stock to make homemade gravy.)

5. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring as often as you can to prevent scorched milk, until bubbly and thickened. (I don’t know why I don’t have a picture of this step…must have gotten too many things going in the kitchen by this point!)

You can use the white sauce over pasta (add salt, pepper, spices and Parmesan cheese and you’ve got alfredo), make a baked chicken dish by adding cheese and jalapenos and pouring over chicken breasts, or use this knowledge to make cream of potato/vegetable soup.

Cream of Potato/Vegetable Soup

One of the things I love about cream of potato soup is its versatility. It’s a perfect mid-winter, mid-Lent meatless option, and it’s delicious enough that you don’t mind eating it in the summer either, especially with the bounty of fresh produce you find that time of year.

Wash and cut potatoes (with or without skins – for taste’s sake, peel them, for health’s sake, leave the peels on), a few carrots, some broccoli, and other veggies. Boil the potatoes in salted water about 15 minutes or until soft.

I used to put the veggies right in the water too and use the veggie water to thin the cream sauce (to add nutrients, I had heard!), but now I understand that it’s not recommended to reuse cooking water if (1) you don’t use organic produce and (2) you’re using broccoli, kale, spinach, or cauliflower (and a few other lesser known cruciferous veggies). The chemicals from non-organically grown produce reside in the cooking water, and the oxalic acid and/or goitrogens (see this post for explanation) from the cruciferous veggies also sit in the water.

My solution to get all the vegetables cooked and do it nutritiously — and without adding extra dishes — is to get the potatoes going:

Then rest my steamer basket on top, either using its own tripod like above, or just sitting on the potatoes if there are too many:

Meanwhile, as soon as you get your veggies on the stove, start your roux/bechamel. (It always takes longer than I think it will.) For potato soup, I usually use 2-3 Tbs. butter, 3-5 Tbs. flour (extra thick) and 2 cups milk. Once it is pleasantly thick, pour in a few cups of chicken broth for added nutritional benefits.

**Gluten-free version: Use 2-4 Tbs. arrowroot starch, and instead of adding it to the fat, whisk it in with one cup of the cold milk. Put the other 3 cups of liquid into the pan, bring to a low boil, and stir in the starch/milk mixture, whisking constantly until bubbly again. I always think it is not going to thicken up, and I usually add more starch mixed with water or milk, then get my soup too thick. Be patient; arrowroot does thicken better than flour, so you use less.

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When the vegetables are all soft, add them to the creamy base using a slotted spoon. Just discard the cooking water.

Season with salt and pepper to taste (1 tsp. or less salt and ¼-1/2 tsp. pepper is safe). Other herbs like thyme, marjoram, basil and taragon are good to add flavor, too. Lately I’ve used about a tsp of marjoram and taragon, in case you’re not adventurous in the kitchen with trying your own measurements.

**This is a good recipe to play with…

You can fry up some bacon and onions and use a little bacon fat for the roux, then add bacon to the soup and sprinkle with cheese for “loaded baked potato” soup.

Wash and cut potatoes (with or without skins – for taste’s sake, peel them, for health’s sake, leave the peels on), a few carrots, some broccoli, and other veggies. Boil the potatoes in salted water about 15 minutes or until soft.

I used to put the veggies right in the water too and use the veggie water to thin the cream sauce (to add nutrients, I had heard!), but now I understand that it’s not recommended to reuse cooking water if (1) you don’t use organic produce and (2) you’re using broccoli, kale, spinach, or cauliflower (and a few other lesser known cruciferous veggies). The chemicals from non-organically grown produce reside in the cooking water, and the oxalic acid and/or goitrogens (see this post for explanation) from the cruciferous veggies also sit in the water.

My solution to get all the vegetables cooked and do it nutritiously — and without adding extra dishes — is to get the potatoes going.

Then rest my steamer basket on top, either using its own tripod like above, or just sitting on the potatoes if there are too many.

Meanwhile, as soon as you get your veggies on the stove, start your roux/bechamel. (It always takes longer than I think it will.) For potato soup, I usually use 2-3 Tbs butter, 3-5 Tbs flour (extra thick) and 2 cups milk. Once it is pleasantly thick, pour in a few cups of chicken broth for added nutritional benefits.

**Gluten-free version: Use 2-4 Tbs. arrowroot starch, and instead of adding it to the fat, whisk it in with one cup of the cold milk. Put the other 3 cups of liquid into the pan, bring to a low boil, and stir in the starch/milk mixture, whisking constantly until bubbly again. I always think it is not going to thicken up, and I usually add more starch mixed with water or milk, then get my soup too thick. Be patient; arrowroot does thicken better than flour, so you use less.

When the vegetables are all soft, add them to the creamy base using a slotted spoon. Just discard the cooking water.

Season with salt and pepper to taste (1 tsp. or less salt and ¼-1/2 tsp. pepper is safe). Other herbs like thyme, marjoram, basil and taragon are good to add flavor, too. Lately I’ve used about a tsp of marjoram and taragon, in case you’re not adventurous in the kitchen with trying your own measurements.

Notes

You can fry up some bacon and onions and use a little bacon fat for the roux, then add bacon to the soup and sprinkle with cheese for “loaded baked potato” soup.

About Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship

I’m a Catholic wife and mother of four who wants the best of nutrition and living for her family. I believe that God calls us to be good stewards of all His gifts as we work to feed our families: time, finances, the good green earth, and of course, our healthy bodies. I'm the founder and boss lady here at Kitchen Stewardship -- welcome aboard!

Katie, I am loving your blog! I have been going back and reading some of your past posts and trying to keep up with the current stuff. It’s all such great info and exactly what I need right now!!

Thanks for the potato soup recipe! It’s perfect timing for me, because my hubs wants me to make cheesy potatoes, but it calls for 2 cans of cream of potato soup and I am trying not to use the store bought processed foods so much and was wondering if I could just make a cream of potato myself to use in the recipe. I’ll definitely be trying this out!

I just recently learned to make a roux myself, and use it to make homemade mac & cheese, and I’m excited to begin to experiment with the many other uses for it. It is definitely one of the those simple, basic, must-know things for cooking from scratch!

Emily, Yayyy! Welcome on board! I just love that some of these posts are just *when* people need them. 🙂 If you’re subbing for canned stuff, remember that’s probably condensed, so either use more of your potato soup and less milk than the recipe calls for, or make the potato soup super thick with extra flour. I’ve done it in a casserole before (subbed for canned) and it was better than ever! 🙂 Katie

FYI: Most references to roux that I have seen say to cook the flour/butter combination for a minute and to add the cold milk all at once. I have done it that way with success. The above flour/butter combination looks like it’s had some time to ‘cook’ the flour. I suspect that is to avoid a flour flavor.

We LOVE a good roux – it’s a cooking staple! :)Just a note for those with dairy allergies or sensitivities – this works just as well with soy margarine and soymilk as substitutes! .-= Jolyn @ Macomb Money Savers´s last blog ..Vince & Joe’s: November 2-8, 2009 =-.

I can’t wait to try the soup. We need to mix it up a bit on these cold winter days here. thanks for joining me this week. Spread the word, and I look forward to next week. Staci .-= Staci´s last blog ..Meatless Monday Carnival – Kids in the Kitchen =-.

Please don’t discard the very nutritious veggie water from this delicious potato soup recipe. Use in other soups or to feed sourdough starter. Potato water makes in bread dough gives a great texture and flavor. Or cool and use to water house plants.

I don’t eat grains so can’t use regular flour to make a roux. I bake with almond flour but assume it wouldn’t work in this case. Would coconut flour or some other flour be an acceptable substitute to make a roux?

Tara, Can you use arrowroot starch or cornstarch? I never tried coconut flour, but those two work well. I think you can use slightly less arrowroot starch (up to half?) compared to flour. If your roux doesn’t thicken up well, just mix more starch with COLD water thoroughly, and then add it into the hot milk mixture, stirring until you see bubbles, and it should thicken even more.

I made this soup with leftover roast veggies (potato, onion, carrot & celery). I had separated the leftover meat from the veggies and both containers had a generous amount of drippings. I added the veggies and drippings to the thickened roux and it was fabulous. I didn’t need to season much at all. YUMMY!

Hey, I just commented above 🙂 also, just made the soup tonight and it was amazing! I guess I was a little over zealous with the veggies because I had to add a lot more than 2 cups of broth (I didn’t really keep track, I keep my broth in frozen cubes), but it turned out totally delicious anyways. Oh and my boyfriend, who doesn’t normally like soup, actually liked it 😀

Katie, That’s awesome! I wasn’t sure how I was going to answer your first question, anyway, because I always just make it until the pot has enough and it feeds everyone I need to feed. 😉 I love soup for that reason! 🙂 Katie

Made this tonight with tiny diced carrots, broccoli, and diced, sautéed leeks. Would probably work well with yukon or red (waxy) potatoes instead of russets…. lower glycemic index and they hold together better.

Hi Katie, I learned how to make Cream of Potato Soup in 8th grade Home Economics (1978) I vividly remember the magic of how the roux turned into this amazing luxurious soup. I will forever be blown away that it comes from the humble ingredients it does! Thank you for all your tips and recipes! And sometimes reminders of things we used to know and just needed a prod to remember!

I made this – more or less – last night for dinner. My son needed to practice cutting up baked potatoes for a secret project we’re involved with ;), so I had him do that and used those potatoes with frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Since the broccoli and cauliflower pieces were huge (thx Costco) and I was worried that my soup wasn’t thickening up enough, I used an immersion blender to blend it all in the pot. I mixed in a couple handfuls of cheddar cheese, it thickened perfectly, was a lovely pale green color (guess there was a lot of broccoli), and – most importantly – the whole family loved it and said I should definitely make it again. I seasoned it with some basil and quite a bit of dried parsley cause I didn’t realize I’d opened the pour side instead of the sprinkle side until after I dumped it in the pot :p.

Thanks. Technically I was trying to follow your recipe 😉 but thanks to your open instructions and Better than a Box I felt confident enough to adapt your framework to what I had on hand :D. In the past I would also have freaked out when I accidentally dumped in 2-4 TBS of dried parsley, but having recently heard you say that parsley is really mild and hard to overdo, I just hoped for the best – and it really did have a great flavor. Btw I used mostly milk with a bit of water and the last 3/4 cup(ish) of my concentrated homemade chicken broth for the liquid. I’m now wondering if the parsley contributed to the color 😉 and hoping I can recreate this in the future since I didn’t really write anything down (other than in these comments :p).

Great soup! I was looking all over for a soup base that included the roux/bechemel sauce. Amazingly hard to find. I made it according to your directions with potatoes and broccoli and it was perfect. Thanks for posting.

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